A weather system brought snowfall to the Cascades Mountains at the beginning of the month, with the heaviest snowfall impacting the Northern Cascades.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS SEW wrote it up.
A weather system brought snowfall to the Cascades Mountains at the beginning of the month, with the heaviest snowfall impacting the Northern Cascades.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Seattle, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 4, 8:09 PM PST, 3 hours 51 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Seattle WA
809 PM PST Wed Mar 4 2020
.SYNOPSIS...Weak high pressure will build into the area tonight.
A front will spread rain to the coast Thursday afternoon and it
will move through the rest of Western Washington Thursday night.
An upper trough just offshore on Friday will shift through the
area and weaken over the weekend. Another weather system will
arrive by the middle of next week.
&&
.UPDATE...Fairly quiet across the region this evening. High clouds
are spreading across the area ahead of a frontal system that will
push through Thursday. The wind and marine forecasts were updated
to reflect the latest guidance. The remainder of the forecast is
on track and no additional updates are planned this evening.
-Wolcott-
&&
.SHORT TERM /TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY/...After a break in the
weather through tonight the next front will spread rain to the
coast Thursday afternoon. The front will move through the rest of
Western Washington Thursday night. Friday will be post-frontal
but the associated upper trough will still be just offshore--so
there will probably be some areas of rain. The upper trough moves
ashore Saturday with a cool unstable air mass.
.LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/...The cool showery air mass
will dry out Sunday and Monday as the upper trough weakens and
they gives way to upper ridging. A new broad upper level trough
will move into the northeast Pacific next Tuesday and the
associated cold front will probably reach Western Washington
Wednesday.
&&
.AVIATION...Expect continued VFR conditions through most of the
period with light surface winds. However, an approaching front
Thursday afternoon will bring increasing mid-level clouds and
breezy southerly winds in the afternoon. Low-level clouds and
rain showers will increase for 6-10 hours with the frontal passage
Thursday afternoon into Thursday night, with MVFR to IFR
conditions possible at times.
KSEA...VFR ceilings with increasing mid-high clouds. Expect winds
to remain generally light tonight and early Thursday, but gusty
southerly winds return Thursday afternoon ahead of the next front.
Low-level clouds (MVFR to IFR) and rain showers will arrive late
Thursday afternoon and early evening and linger for 6-10 hours
with the frontal passage.
-Wolcott-
&&
.MARINE...The next disturbance approaches the region on Thursday,
with strongly increasing southerly winds expected ahead of the
front. The latest guidance has come down with winds and gale
conditions are not expected. The Gale Watch was replaced with
small craft advisories for most area waters. The strong winds will
generally be brief in any one location. Meanwhile, seas will
remain mainly above 10 feet across the coastal waters through
Friday. -Wolcott-
&&
.HYDROLOGY...No river flooding expected in the next 7 days.
&&
.SEW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WA...None.
PZ...Small Craft Advisory until 4 PM PST Thursday for Coastal Waters
From Cape Flattery To James Island 10 To 60 Nm-Coastal
Waters From Cape Flattery To James Island Out 10 Nm-Coastal
Waters From James Island To Point Grenville 10 To 60 Nm-
Coastal Waters From James Island To Point Grenville Out 10
Nm-Coastal Waters From Point Grenville To Cape Shoalwater
10 To 60 Nm-Coastal Waters From Point Grenville To Cape
Shoalwater Out 10 Nm.
Small Craft Advisory until 10 AM PST Thursday for Grays Harbor
Bar-West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca.
Small Craft Advisory from 1 AM to 7 PM PST Thursday for
Admiralty Inlet-East Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De
Fuca-Northern Inland Waters Including The San Juan Islands.
Small Craft Advisory from noon to 4 PM PST Thursday for Central
U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca.
&&
www.weather.gov/seattle1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Snow began falling during the afternoon hours of the 5th and by the early overnight hours, around 14 inches of new snow accumulated at Mount Baker Ski Area. Snow then began to taper off through the afternoon hours of the 6th.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, March 2020
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 882037.